Autobiography of an English soldier in the United States army. Comprising observations and adventures in the States and Mexico

Front matter

w

THE SOLUIBR IN MKXllO

OTITED STATES ARMY.

Preface

butions to history. The writers of both classes have *' cast discreetly into shade'' whatever would " ojffend the eye" of the readers they sought to appreciate.

As a partial remedy for the evil complained of by the gallant officer above referred to, the publishers put forth the present volume. If it does not rise to the dignity of history, it at least partakes of that faithfulness of record and clearness of detail which give history its value. The author is manifestly superior to that class of his countrymen ordinarily found in the rank and file of an army, in intelligence, in education, in observation, in descriptive and narrative power, and in candor and liberality of sentiment. Something of foreign misapprehension, possibly some degree of foreign preference or prejudice, may b^ found in his pages ; and it is by no means improbable that some of his criticisms upon men and events may be unjust ; but there is throughout the volume an evident desire to be just as well as independent, both in criticism and in narration.

The publishers confidently express the opinion, in which they are confirmed by the verdict of the literary gentlemen to whom the work has been submitted

PREFACE. Vll

for supervision, not only that nothing has yet issued from the American press that gives so intelligent and lively a description of the actualities of the war in Mexico, but that no work is extant in the English language which presents so interesting a picture of a soldier's life — his round of conversation, his employments, his toils, dangers, and escapes — what he sees^ and does, and how he does it — as this autobiography. The reader will find it difficult to part company with the author. There is no '' fine writing" to pall upon the taste. Everything is told naturally, and everything is described earnestly. The style is nervous yet chaste, and free from the coarseness which too often disfigures a soldier's narrative. Yet there is no sentimentality. The manliness of the true soldier is apparent on every page. The charm of tlfe work is in the impressive distinctness of every picture of place or incident. The reader will feel as though he accompanied the hardy soldier from the moment of his enlistment to that of his discharge ; messing with him on Governor's Island, marching with him to join the forces under General Scott, sleeping with him on the mountain side, where the bed is made

Viii PREFACE.

softer by putting aside some of the larger stones, circuitously approaching the scene of action, exchanging a repartee or a word of encouragement with a comrade, mingling in the melee, and finally entering the city of Mexico in triumph, and realizing all the peculiarities of its buildings and its people. So vividly is every scene painted that a stranger, with tho volume as his guide, might trace the entire route of the American army through Mexico, locate every bivouac, and comprehend every manoeuvre or military movement. The publishers feel assured that this commendation of the volume will be verified by every intelligent reader of its pages.

CnnUnts.

Pago CHAPTER I.

I arrive in 'New York, and make several strange acquaintances, - 9

Chapter I

I arrive in New York, and make several strauge acquaintances.

I LEFT home for the United States in the summer of 1845, for the same reason that yearly sends so many thousands there, want of employment. I had both read and. heard a good deal about America, and knew that money could not be picked up in the streets there, any more than at home ; but I was scarcely prepared to find the scramble for the means of living so fierce and incessant, as I found it in New York.

Being a handloom weaver, I called on several persons belonging to that business, and from the same town as myself, Paisley, in the west of Scotland. They told me they had to work very hard to earn three dollars and a half, or at most, four dollars a week ; while loom rent and other expenses, with loss of time, changing and putting in new sorts of work, reduced their wages to an average of less than three dollars, or about twelve shillings a week. There were some weavers in carpet factories in Philadelphia they told me, and also a few in New York, who earned five or six dollars a week ; but only a few could find employment at these places, which

1* were also subject to periods of stagnation of business, wlien tlie cost of living soon exhausted tbe savings of those who were provident enough to save a little for a rainy day. They generally, while informing me of plenty of places where I might find employment at wea\dng, such as it was, advised me to try and find employment as a labourer in preference ; which some of them declared their intention of doing as soon as they had finished their engagements.

While walking along the wharfs at the East River one morning, my attention was arrested by a placard above one of the shops which front Brooklyn, stating, in the usual Brobdignagian typography of these announcements, that one hundred able-bodied men were wanted for whaling. Applicants were directed to walk up stairs. With a vague idea that possibly a South Sea voyage might answer my peculiar situation, I walked up and presented myself to a man whom I found sitting at a desk in a large room, barely furnished, and very dirty. I asked him if he could inform me as to the terms of engagement. " I can't do anything else," he replied, as he got up from his desk, and coming close up to me, asked if I meant to join the money-making business of Vv^haling. He was a small cadaverous looking being, with sandy hair, sallow complexion, and red eyes that glittered like a ferret's, as you caught an occasional glimpse of them from behind a pair of green spectacles. I told him in reply, that I was out of employment, and not particularly nice as to what I tried, if I were able for it, and it promised tolerable pay. " Ah !" said he, " Stranger, I guess you are in a particular all fir'd streak of good luck ; we are nearly filled up, that is a fact, but if you are in good health — let me just look at your arm," he continued, as he seized hold of one, feeling it up to the shoulder for the purpose of testing its muscular condition. Being satisfied with his examination, apparently,

THE BRIGHT SIDE OF WHALING. 11

he asked me if I was an American citizen. I told him I was not, having only arrived in the country a few weeks before. " That is no matter," said he, winking one of the ferret eyes, " I can fix that right away." He then congratulated me upon being in a fair way to make my fortune, and informed me that the men employed in whaling were ^^aid by shares, which they called lays, and that their wages were proportionate to their luck. He had known a young man have eight hundred, or a thousand dollars for his share, or lay, in a voyage that did not last over eighteen months, A whale ship would have very bad luck if the men aboard of her did not clear three or four hundred dollars a year. Bad health alone, he said, had prevented him from going a voyage or two ; and so he went on with a great deal more to the same effect, most of which I thought too good to be true. Thanking him, however, for his information, and promising to call again after thinking the matter over, I left the office. I can't deny that his statements made a considerable impression on me at the time, though of course I believed that he greatly exaggerated. Still it is probable that I would have doubled Cape Horn in one of these whalers, perhaps touching at ISTukuheva, and a few of the islands in that vicinity, and realizing some of those scenes of enchantment of which the inimitable Herman Melville has given such charming and graphical descriptions in his Typee and Omoo, but for the following incident.

Going down the steps from the office, I met in the street one of the sailors of the ship in which I had arrived, a fine old fellow with whom I had often had a chat during the passao-e. After the usual salutations, he asked me if I would help him to " splice the main brace," the nautical phrase for taking a glass of grog. I assented, and while taking a glass and a cigar together, he confidentially informed me that he had considered me a Ohristian ever since tlie fourth of July. My claim to tliis high character, which the old fellow I suppose considered perfectly valid, rested on the following rather slender foundation : — The night preceding the fourth of July had been wet and stormy, the wind blowing a pretty stiff gale. In the morning, the crew having been on deck all night, were tired, cold, and wet ; and the vessel being on the temperance principle, they had no grog, at which they grumbled sadly. The sailors were mostly Americans, and the fourth of July, the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, being held as a day of jubilee and general festivity in the States, the contrast suggested to their minds by their present condition, made them feel the deprivation more acutely. I had brought a small stock of whiskey with me, and not requiring it for my own use, I served out an allowance to each man ; thus cheaply earning the reputation of a Christian. He proceeded to acquaint me with his having " shipped " in a vessel which was to sail in a few days for the East Indies. He had drawn a month's pay in advance, for the purpose of having a spree, as he was going on a long voyage. " Look here, matey," said he, " I have a few of the shiners left yet," and pulling a handful of silver from his pocket, he insisted that I should take part of it. I thanked him for his offer, which I said I would cheerfully accept if I required it. " Avast there, mate," said he, " did I not see you coming out of a land-shark's office there on the wharf ?" I acknowledged having gone into an office there, telling the object of my visit, and repeated part of the statements made by the shipping agent. " I thought so," said Jack, with a sneer, " but listen to me, lad." He then gave me a history of his own experience on board a whaler, with a number of anecdotes gathered from different messmates, all tending to show that it was a life of great hardship, with very poor wages. He strongly advised me to look for

INDUCEMENTS TO RECRUITS. 13

some other sort of employment, and as to sharing his money, if I didn't it was all the same, he could pitch it into the river ; he never carried any money on board with him when going on a long voyage. As I was not greatly above the want of a little pecmiiary assistance, though not quite destitute of resources, having a good suit of clothes, and other articles easily convertible into money at my lodgings, I accepted a dollar from him as a loan. I did this the more readily, as I saw he would be grievously offended should I persist in refusing his kind offer. " Ay, ay," said the honest and warmhearted old fellow, as we shook hands at parting, " you and I may happen to meet some other time, when your luck's better than mine. If we don't, and you should ever see a messmate on his beam ends, give him a lift, God bless you, and it will do all the same."

My interview with this honest fellow having dissipated any idea I had previously entertained of going to sea in a whaler, I strolled about for the remainder of the day, meditating on my future prospects, which presented a rather cheerless aspect at this juncture. Having served for a considerable time in the English army, from which I had purchased my discharge about five years previously, I finally resolved, as a sort of last resource, to try five years in the American service. The bills advertising for recruits, stated, that a few enterprising young men, of good character, were wanted for the service of the United States ; and promised good treatment, as far as physical comfort was concerned, being somewhat to the following effect : — That soldiers of the United States' service were provided with good quarters, an ample sufficiency of good and wholesome diet, an abundant supply of clothing, and in case of sickness, the most careful attendance, and the most skilful medical aid. The statement concluded with the amount of money which could be saved by sergeant, corporal, or private, during tlieir period of five years' service, varying from four to seven hundred dollars.

It was about the middle of August, 1845, that I called at the recruiting oflSce in Cedar street, for the purpose of enlisting. The sergeant in charge of the establishment, having asked me if I had been in the British service, to which I replied in the affirmative, said in that case he was afraid they could not enlist me, as they had lately received an order from Washington to that effect ; deserters from fhe British service ha\^ng generally turned out bad soldiers. As I saw he was under the impression that I was a deserter, I explained that I had purchased my discharge, which I could produce if required. This, he said, altered the case ; he was going to the recruiting officer's quarters, and if I had no objection he would take me along with him. I went with him, and was soon ushered into the presence of Lieutenant Burke, a tall handsome man, with fine expressive dark eyes, and large black whiskers, but a rather melancholy cast of countenance. He became Captain Burke soon after, in consequence of the war in Mexico, which caused considerable promotion among the officers for some time ; but he did not live to enjoy it, being killed at the battle of Churubusco, outside of the city of Mexico, in August, 184*7, about two years after my enlistment. After asking me a few questions, he said he would be glad to have me if I passed the surgeon's examination, and could procure a document to show that I had been discharged from the British service. I accordingly went to my lodgings, and returned with my certificate of discharge, which ho slightly glanced over, and remarking that it was quite satisfactory, directed the sergeant to go with me to the inspecting surgeon. I then underwent an examination similar to that which recruits undergo when enhsted in the British service.

governor's island. 15

and immediately after, went with the sergeant to the office of a magistrate, and took the usual oath of allegiance.

Being a soldier once more, and desirous of ascertaining the actual condition of one in the American service as soon as possible, I asked the sergeant when it would be requisite for me to be ready to go over to Governor's Island. This is a small island in the Manhattan Bay, where recruits are stationed until sent to join their respective reghnents. It is rather more than a mile in circumference, and about a mile from the battery. The sergeant, who seemed a civil fellow, said that I might either go over in the garrison boat at sunset that evening, or if I had anything to arrange in New York, I might defer going over until next evening. He advised me to sell my clothes, and purchase old ones in New York, as I would get almost nothing for good clothes in the island, and would have no opportunity of coming over to sell them, as recruits after landing never obtained permission to leave the island until sent to join their regiments. I followed his advice with regard to the clothes, for which a purchaser was easily found, replacing them with a light linen jacket, and chip hat, which cost a mere trifle, but were good enough to throw away in a day or two, when I should put on soldier's uniform. I also sold my trunk, and a few other articles which, as a soldier, I had neither much use for, nor convenient means of carrying ; and being desirous of going over the same evening, I then returned to the recruiting office.

At sunset the sergeant accompanied me and two other recruits down to the boat, which lay in front of Castle Garden. The garrison boat was a large, handsome, and neatly painted cutter, rowed by six sojdiers, with a corporal acting as coxswain. Seated in the stern of the boat were a couple of young officers smoking cigars. They were probably cliagrined at having been detained a minute or two while we were coming down, for one of them called out in a petulant tone to us, to jump in and be damned. I looked with a little surprise at the would-be aristocrat specimen of equal rights who had spoken, and could perceive that he had the apology of youth and inexperience, being little more than a boy. One of the recruits muttered loud enough to be heard by the gentleman, who stared and coloured, but perhaps thought it prudent to decline a reply, " Faith and there's many a strong word comes off a weak stomach."

The evening was delightful, and in a few minutes we were landed on the wharf at Governor's Island. The other two recruits and myself were shown to a tent, where we were to sleep for the night. We found that it contained only two straw mattresses, and two blankets, but as the weather was veiy warm, we slept that night very comfortably.

CHAPTER 11.

Mj first experience as an American soldier, and attendance at military punishment.

"We were roused next morning by tlie reveille, which is always beat a little before sunrise. Having got up with the assistance of a good-natured recruit who happened to look into our tent, we rolled up our mattresses, and folded the blankets according to regulation, and then, falling into the ranks formed in front of the tents, we answered to our names as they were called by the sergeant who had charge of us. All hands were then distributed in separate j^arties, each party in charge of a corporal, to " police" or clean round the garrison. A portion of this duty, at which the recruits grumbled loudly, and which I soon learned was one of several standing grievances of which they complained, was being sent to the barrack-square, where a company, called the permanent company, were stationed. As the recruits lay in tents outside, and at a considerable distance from the barracks, they naturally felt indignant at the unjust degradation to which they were subjected, in being compelled every morning to act as a scavenging commission for the permanent company. The refusal to obey orders, caused by this foolish regulation, was the means of many of the recruits being confined in the guard-house while I was on the island. At six o'clock we were assembled and formed into squads for drill ; we were then drilled until seven, when we were dismissed.

At half-past seven o'clock, at beat of drum, we again fell into the ranks, having our leathern stocks on, and jackets buttoned up to the collar. The roll was again called, after w^hich we were marched to the cook-house to breakfast. It is a rule in the American service that sol(^ers shall breakfast, dine, and sup in the cook-house, a very absurd and inconvenient regulation, for which I never heard any satisfactory reason assigned. Our breakfast consisted of six ounces of bread, a slice of salt pork, and a pint of weak unpalatable coffee, totally innocent of the useless extravagance of milk, instead of which we w ere permitted to season our sumptuous fare with vinegar at discretion, a large black bottle full of that condiment being placed at each end of the table.

Before commencing, and as I was about to sit down to my first breakfast on Governor's Island, a recruit, Sawney, belonging to New York, one of the " bhoys," as they delight in being called, and a recognised and privileged wit among the recruits, volunteered to ask a blessing. It was evidently a preconcerted arrangement with several of his influential friends, who used all their address, and a considerable degree of exertion to obtain silence. Having finally succeeded, Sawney rose with a face of the utmost gravity, and commenced a profane and irreverent parody. He concluded by

d g all those infernal scoundrels who rob poor soldiers of

their rations ; amen. " Sawney, get up, and go to the guardhouse," said a sergeant who entered as he sat down, after finishing this singular grace. " Ay, ay," grumbled Sawney, *' I expected as much ; I said how it would be. If a poor devil wants to be ever so religious, it's no use a trying of it here. I suppose that's what you call liberty of conscience in this blessed free republic of ours. Hang me if it is not enough to make a man curse Washington, or his old grandmother even." So saying, and swallowing his indignation

CLOTHING, INSPECTION, AND DRILL. 19

along with a gulp of tlie wi-etclied coffee, and taking his bread in his hand, amidst the sympathy of his admiring fi-iends, he walked off to the Guard House, muttering curses, not loud but deep.

After breakfast, the sergeant in charge of the recruits took me and the two others who came over on the previous evening to the clothing store, where each received the following articles of clothing. A forage cap, leather stock, jacket, and trousers of coarse blue cloth, two cotton shirts, two pairs of socks, one pair of half boots, a blanket, a great-coat, a knapsack, and a havi-esack. Having brushed our clothes, cleaned the metal buttons of our jackets, and polished our boots, at 10 o'clock, we again fell into the ranks for inspection and drill. After a minute inspection by the officer who had us in charge, to see that we were smart and clean in our appearance, we were formed into a number of separate squads for drill ; those who had joined earliest, and consequently were the most forward with their drill, being placed in the fii-st squad, and so on in succession. The other two recruits, Murphy and Finnegan, and myself, were turned over to a corporal named Bright, to be taught the preliminary steps of a soldier's drill, as " the position of a soldier," or the manner in which a soldier should stand in the ranks ; " the facings," or mode of turning on the heels to the right or left, with slow marching, and a few of those things which usually commence the course of instruction with recruits.

Corporal Bright, who was an Irishman by birth, was a United States soldier by profession, and long custom. He had served three enlistments, and entered on the fourth. He was a stout, punchy, little fellow, rather round-shouldered, slightly bowlegged, nose carbuncled, and portending an addiction to strong potations. In addition, he had a very decided squint from a pair of dull, grey, and glassy-looking orbs, whicli, as Finnegan when criticising liis personal appearance remarked, " stuck out of the cratliur's head like the eyes of a boiled cod fish." Notwithstanding these slight drawbacks, Corporal Bright had an idea that he was a very handsome and well-made man, and on this account became the unconscious butt of all the recruits he got to drill. " Murphy, arrah bad luck to you for an awkward-looking omadhaun," he would call out, " can't you hold up your big head, and look me straight in the eyes ?" (Murphy aside) — " Be the hokey, my bright-looking customer, and that's what I defy mortial man to do." Corporal Bright (marching in front), " Look at me now Murphy, and yourself too Finnegan ; there now, do yez iver see me duck my head like a gandher going under a gate or bent two double like some old Judy going to a wake ?" Finnegan (aside) — " Faith, an it's a Judy you make of yourself, sure enough, you consated crathur." Corporal Bright (addressing his squad), " Be my sowl, I'm ashamed of yez for counthrymen ; stand at ease ; I'll just march a few paces in front now to show yez how yez ought to march ; now if yez plase will yez take a patthern." So saying, he would step off, and march twenty or thirty paces to the front, with such a ludicrous imitation of the beau ideal graceful ease, and dignified carriage of body which he recommended, as to sometimes prove rather too much for the gravity of his pupils. These performances he would intersperse with a few instructions, and self-laudatory remarks, such as, " There now, do yez persaive the difference, can't yez carry yer shoulders back, yer heads ereck, and march as you persaive I do, as bould as a lion, and as straight as a ramrod." Finnegan (aside) — " Arrah, look at the gommagh, with the airs and consate of him, marching in front there as bould as Julius Cajsar ; sure it's a holy show the unfortunate crather makes ov himself with his ' straight as a ramrod ;' faith, the ramrod

GARRISON LIFE. 21

that's no straigliter than you, would do to load the gun that shoots round the corner. Murphy (aside in reply), " Faix, but it's the beautiful cook they spoiled, when they made the same fellow a corporal ; he could have one eye up the chimney, and the other in the pot at the same time." Such is a faint sketch of Corporal Bright and his squad of recruits, on the drill ground at Governor's Island.

Having been well drilled while serving in the British army, I found no difficulty in acquiring my drill on the island, the systems of English and American drill being essentially the same. I therefore escaped a good deal of that annoyance to which recruits are often subject, upon first joining the army, and which frequently proceeds from the ignorance or bad temper of the non-commissioned officer appointed to drill them. The proper combination of intelligence, fii-mness, and mildness of manner, requisite to form a good drill instructor, is of rare occurrence, and owing to this cause, many a young and high spirited recruit, discouraged and fretted by the bullying and blustering tone of those who ought to be his patient instructors, is tempted to desert the service, when, with proper treatment, he might have been made a good and efficient soldier.

At half-past eleven o'clock the squads were dismissed, and the greater part of the recruits who possessed money, or had credit at the sutler's store, went over to it to buy crackers and cheese, pies and other eatables, and to drink cider, ginger, and root beer, all of which articles, with tobacco, and several other necessaries, were sold there at the slight advance of 100 per cent, upon the price at which similar commodities could be purchased in New York.

The sutler's store is a shop kept in every garrison, and is somewhat similar to a canteen in the British service, only the sutler's stores are prohibited from selling spirits. Recruits, on arriving at the island, were allowed credit in the sutler's store to the amount of two dollars, which sum, or the amount taken by the recruit, was remitted by the captain of his company on the first pay-day after he joined his regiment. Those recruits who had exhausted their credit at the store, either went to their tents, or lay stretched on the grass, under the fine shady trees that ornamented the parade ground, reading, dozing, or smoking, and chatting, according to their various inclinations.

At twelve o'clock the dinner call beat, a fifer and drmnmer playing the regulation tune, " the Roast Beef of Old England." We again fell into the ranks, buttoned up as at breakfast roll-call, and having answered our names were marched to the cook-house to dinner. This meal consisted of six ounces of bread, a slice of salt pork, and a basin of bean soup. This compound was very salt, and very fat, and contained a quantity of half-boiled beans. I have seen some strange and rather uninviting dishes, both before and since, but never anything so utterly unpalatable as the bean-soup of Governor's Island. A few of the more verdant of the recruits occasionally swallowed a portion of it, under the false impression that it was a species of military soup, which might possess some hidden nutritious virtues, though so singularly uninviting in taste and appearance. For this venial error, however, they were pretty sure to sufier a moderate degree of penance, until led by experience to see their mistake. The old and more experienced hands, usually preferred to wash down their dry victuals with a drink of water, so that the quantity of Spartan broth, and salt pork, daily left on the dinner table of the recruits, was quite enormous, a fact easily cited to refute any complaint of an insufficient dietary.